Mobile infrastructure is one of the largest segments in Carrier Network Infrastructure (CNI) and has become one of the biggest growth segments in the CNI. Although the highest growth for CNI may be mobile infrastructure, other segments are also experiencing growth, such as optical transports. Network service providers, such as cellular service providers, wireline service providers, cable service providers, satellite service providers, application-specific service providers, and other types of companies face great pressure to provide the best network service to their customers and to develop and deploy new services to the marketplace faster than their competitors. Furthermore, major telecommunication providers, cable network carriers and other types of service providers may have extremely large legacy networks in place, which may service thousands or millions of customers. The array of legacy products and services provided by these carriers can be large and complex. Also, the type of customers may be diverse, such as from individuals to large corporations.
To keep up with demand and to provide the level of service required by many customers, telecommunication providers are rolling out new infrastructures to handle increases in demand. For example, internet protocol (IP) and extremely high-capacity, fiber optic networks may be mandatory for providing the level of service required or desired by many customers. As a result, service providers may be faced with undergoing a comprehensive analysis to enable educated decisions for the rapid creation and deployment of telecommunication networks and services that meet their customer demands, minimize service disruption during rollout, and provide the highest quality of service within the customer demands. However, due to the cost, difficulty and know-how needed for undergoing such an analysis, many companies may fall short in their analysis, possibly resulting in failure to meet demand, failure to improve quality of service, and failure to timely provide improved capacity and services.